Dr Emma Swan, At Your Service
by RemyHunkules
Summary: Regina gets sick, and Emma takes care of her. Romance ensues.
1. Chapter 1

"Alright, what is it you want, Madam Mayor?" Emma asked, strolling into the aforementioned woman's office. She looked over at the slightly older woman. "Oh my God… You look terrible!"

"Miss Swan, I would prefer it if you didn't-" Regina cut herself off with a loud sneeze. "If you weren't rude to me."

"Regina… You really don't look too good."

Regina was sick. And not just 'cold virus' sick, really sick. For a naturally tan woman, her skin was pallid. The woman looked entirely fragile.

"I'm-" Sneeze. "Perfectly-" Sneeze. "Fine." Cough.

"No you are not. Get up, you're going home."

"Miss Swan, I would prefer if you didn't dictate what I do. I'm perfectly fine."

"Regina, get up. I'm going to drive you home."

"I don't need-" Two sneezes. "You to look after-" Sneeze. "Me!" She got up to prove her strength.

Emma stepped forward, sighing. "You may not want my help, you may think you don't need it, but you do. There's no way I'm letting you drive yourself home."

Regina narrowed her eyes at the blonde woman, the gesture making her eyes fall completely close and her body start to gently sway. Before she could fall, Emma caught her.

She sighed into the embrace, giving in to her unwell state and nodding against Emma's shoulder. "I'll go home." She muttered.

* * *

Not only had Emma managed to convince Regina to go home, she'd so far got her to change and get into her bed.

The blonde brought up some soup for the sick woman, only to find that she was soundly asleep.

* * *

"Emma?" Regina muttered as she awoke, bringing herself up into a sitting position.

Just a few moments later her bedroom door opened. "You called?"

"How did you hear that?" The brunette looked at the Sheriff, confused.

Emma pointed to a device on the bedside table. "I found a baby monitor set in a drawer in Henry's room." She said sheepishly.

"Why were you in Henry's room?"

"Looking for a baby monitor set."

Regina shrugged, yawning and hearing her stomach growl. Before she could ask, Emma interrupted. "I'll bring you some food."

"Th-thank you. For looking after me." Regina whispered to Emma, who was seated on the edge of her bed.

"Hey, it's no trouble. We wouldn't want Henry getting sick either now, would we?"

Regina looked down at her restless hands, toying with the edge of her bed sheet. "Of course."

"Or you getting any worse." Emma leant forward and placed a gentle kiss on Regina's temple. The action had the brunette looking at her, confused. "I'm going to run you a nice bath, and then once you're in I'll go pick Henry up from school. Okay?"

The Mayor just nodded dumbly, still a little in shock from the soft kiss.


	2. Chapter 2

"Emma…" Regina groaned unhappily, weakly trying to scramble out of bed to her bathroom. "Emma… No no no no…" Within seconds Emma had rushed up the stairs to the brunette.

"What, what's wr-" She was cut off by the sound of violent retching from the en suite, and instantly shot through to hold the woman's hair back, out of her face. One hand held the hair in a small ponytail behind the sick woman's head and the other wrapped softly around a small waist in comfort.

When Regina was done, she grabbed some paper and leant back against Emma tiredly. The blonde rid the room of the vomit with a flush, then leant up to fill the cup on the sink with water, holding it out to the brunette. She took it gratefully, swilling it around her mouth and spitting it into the commode. She sipped slowly at the drink afterwards, resting on Emma's chest.

The Sheriff cuddled the Mayor close, leaning back against the wall as she stroked Regina's hair lovingly. Within minutes, light snoring could be heard. Emma smirked and carried the ill woman back to bed.

This sickening cycle happened three more times that day. Regina would wake up, groan, puke, fall asleep on Emma and then be carried back to bed. It got to the point that Emma sat next to a sleeping Regina in bed, using a breakfast-in-bed tray to do her paperwork – Regina had forced her to make the most of her free time nursing her to catch up on it all.

The blonde checked the time and slid out of the bed to pull her shoes on, getting dressed to get Henry from school again. The brunette sat slowly up in bed. "Where are you going?"

"To get our son from school." Emma replied simply.

"But… What if I'm sick again? Who'll comfort me?" She pouted.

Emma had to smile softly at that – both at the fact Regina wanted her there for cuddles and at the adorableness of the pout. "I won't be gone long, I promise." She said softly, perching on the edge of the mattress by the woman's side and stroking her hair back softly.

"Will you stop by Granny's? Get Henry something to eat and get me something too?" Regina asked softly, leaning into the touch.

"Of course, what would you like?"

"Roast chicken sub and Granny's special pumpkin spice tea?" She asked hopefully.

Emma laughed softly. "Sure, sweetheart." This brought a soft smile from red lips – that had gained their colour back since the blonde had been here. "Now you get some more rest. I'll leave the bathroom door open and a glass of water on the floor for you, along with a blanket in case you wanna fall asleep in there, okay?"

Emma came back not ten minutes later with Henry by her side and their orders from Granny's to find Regina curled up under the blanket on the bathroom floor, the glass of water half empty. She carried her back to bed and sat her up, shaking her gently to wake her. "Hey, sleepy head. Hungry?"

Regina's eyes opened at the smell of her food, Emma setting it down on the tray over her lap. Henry was eating downstairs, to make sure he didn't get sick too.

* * *

"Emma, I have to say something." Regina mumbled, leaning into the blonde's side as she continued with paperwork. The brunette hadn't been sick since they'd eaten.

"Sure." The Sheriff smiled softly, her arm already wrapped around the woman's shoulders, and turned her attention to her.

"Thank you for taking care of me. No one's ever really done this for me."

"Well then other people suck." She smiled softly. "And I'm taking care of you because I care about you. I care about your wellbeing."

"Not just Henry's? You're not just doing this so he doesn't get ill?"

"Regina, we're sitting up in bed together, you're watching tv and I'm doing work. I wouldn't be sitting here, with you, if this was for Henry. And let me tell you, every time I've imagined us doing this – sitting in bed together – this was the other way around. You were working and I was lazing." Emma froze when she realised what she'd just admitted to.

"You… You've thought about this? About… us?"

"Y-yeah."

Regina leant up and pressed her lips gently to a soft cheek. Emma smiled nervously and glanced to her side at the woman. "I really like you." Red lips whispered. "And I'm sorry for being so horrible."

"Don't worry about it." Pink lips whispered back. "If it was reversed, if I'd adopted your kid, and he or she brought you into our lives… I'd feel threatened too."

The brunette smiled softly and cuddled further into Emma's side.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, I guess I'll be going home now." Emma smiled softly, standing outside the mansion door on a weekend morning. Regina stood just inside, wearing her pyjamas and a big fluffy robe. The colour was back in her skin and there was a soft smile on her face.

"Thank you for taking care of me. Really." The brunette said sincerely. "In fact, why don't you come back over tonight and I'll cook. I'll do a big meal."

"I'd like that. I'll… bring some wine."

The two stared at each other for a long while, Regina leaning heavily on the door and Emma stood with her hands in her jean pockets, shoulders hunched as they just basked in each other's gazes.

"I should uh…" The Sheriff mumbled.

"I'll see you later." The Mayor replied, biting her lip.

The blonde stumble embarrassingly away, only turning away once she'd bumped into her car on the road, blushing brightly as she unlocked it with fumbling hands. The brunette didn't close the door of her home until she couldn't see the garish yellow bug any more. Once she did, she turned and leant back against the door, biting her lip to hold back a huge grin.

Henry stood at the top of the foyer stairs in his iron man pyjamas with a raised eyebrow. "Have you kissed her yet?"

Regina blushed. "On her cheek."

The young boy just shook his head with a soft smile. "You two are acting like teenagers."

"And, pray tell, what does a ten year old know about teenagers? And why?" His mother raised an eyebrow as she made her way over to him, on her way upstairs to dress for the day.

"There's a thing called tv that you haven't been limiting my viewing of from your bed. And are you going back to work today? Cause Miss Blanchard keeps saying that Johnston or whatever his name is is doing a really terrible job."

"Jonathan Stone, honey." Regina corrected, reaching her room with him on her heels. "And yes, I'm going back to work today. How about I call Michael Tillman, and you and Ava and Nicolas can have a movie day. I'll get some snacks ready, all you'll have to do is turn the oven on."

"Really?" Henry frowned. "Are you sure? Cause…" He hesitated.

"What is it, sweetie?" The Mayor asked, getting on her knees in front of him to show him she was listening.

"I was kind of hoping that you and I could spend some time together… Just the two of us."

She grinned, hugging him. "Of course, my dear boy. What is it you'd like to do today?"

"I wanna bake melting snowman cookies for the class Christmas party tomorrow, and I wanna watch Christmas movies with you while they bake and then I want us to decorate the house."

Regina laughed; throughout her winter sickness, she'd forgotten that December had reared it's chilly head. She vaguely remembered Emma telling her she was going out to buy Henry's advent calendar.

"I would _love_ that, Henry. Why don't you go in the kitchen and get all the ingredients out, and I'll go get the decorations from the basement?"

The little boy nodded happily, running to his room to change and wash up before rushing downstairs. His mother took her time to have a shower and call into work, claiming ill for one last day, before getting the decorations out and placing the two boxes on the dining table. Henry had a film waiting next to the television in the living room and was sitting nicely on the counter when Regina entered the kitchen.

"Ready?" She asked. He nodded eagerly. "Have you washed your hands…?" She warned. He hopped down and grabbed the stool from cupboard – one he last used this time last year to bake the same cookies with his mother.

The Mayor stood right behind her boy as they washed their hands together. Regina had to admit that she'd missed the feeling of being close to him – both emotionally and physically. It had been at the start of this year that Mary Margaret Blanchard had given him that infernal storybook. That was the time that he'd started to become distant, dinner conversation gradually lacking until they ate in silence.

And then Emma Swan had shown up. At first, Regina had felt threatened. However, since the blonde had been her personal nurse and servant, waiting on her hand and foot. At one point, Regina had a blocked nose and sore throat, waxy ears… Emma had – quite literally – carried her into the bathtub and drawn the curtain, letting the steam unclog her sinuses.

The woman was pulled from her daydreams and memories by Henry, tugging on her arm. "Mom. Mom!"

"Oh, sorry sweetie. I was lost in my thoughts." She smiled down at him, moving his stool over to the island where he had neatly arranged all the ingredients in order of use around the mixing bowl.

* * *

Two hours later, Henry and Regina were snuggled on the sofa, both watching 'Elf' intently and laughing together. By the time Emma arrived for dinner, the kitchen was full of cookies and cakes: melting snowmen; Christmas present cupcakes; Santa cookies; reindeer cookies… There was even a full display of Santa in his sleigh, being pulled by reindeer – lovingly and artistically decorated by Henry, of course.

Regina opened the door wearing a tight red dress, having dressed up for dinner in her own home. "Good evening, Emma." She said softly.

Emma had been pushed and pulled into her only suit by Mary Margaret, who insisted it was a date even though Henry would be with them, and she fixed her tie awkwardly as the door opened to reveal Regina looking more beautiful than the blonde had ever seen her.

"Wow…" She mumbled in reply to the other woman, before shaking her head. "I mean… Hi. Evening. You look… wow."

The brunette giggled a little, opening the door wider. "Come on in. Dinner's on the table."

* * *

That evening, after the dinner plates had been cleared away, Emma and Regina cuddled up together on the sofa. Emma sat at one end of the sofa with Regina cuddled into her side, a pale arm around slightly tan shoulders. Henry was at the other end, having fallen asleep during their movie-watching.

"I'll carry the kid up to bed." The blonde whispered, kissing Regina's cheek as she stood. She came back down a few minutes later – Henry had woken and pleaded a story from her – and just stood in front of Regina for a while.

"So…"

"We're alone." The brunette whispered.

"Yeah…" The Sheriff glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece. "I… I guess I should head home."

"You're leaving already? I… I thought we could… Y'know. Have some fun." The Mayor said hopefully.

Emma sat down by her side again. "I'd love to, but-"

"But you don't like me like that." Regina cut in, staring down at her hands.

"It's not that at all. I _do_ like you like that. I think you're beautiful, and hell if I don't wanna see what's under that dress then there's something wrong with me, but… I don't want us to rush into things. I don't want us to sleep together and then have everything… stop. I don't want this to be just sex, I want-"

"A relationship." The brunette finished. Her counterpart nodded. She thought for a moment. After Daniel, after her loveless marriage… could she do it? Could she handle it?

"I'll just go. But I'll call you tomorrow?"

"No." Regina mumbled. "Don't go… I just. I need to think about things. I want to be able to tell you if I think I'm capable of a relationship or not, and I want to work that out as soon as possible. So don't go."

"I don't want to rush you. I don't want to force you. Take your time, Regina."

Regardless of her words, Emma didn't move from her seat. She was quite happy to stay at the woman's request.

The brunette sat back, staring into space, lost deep in her thoughts. "I think I can do it. But give me time."

The Sheriff smiled softly and put her arm around the woman again. "Another movie, or?"

"No. Let's cut tonight off here, it's good here." The two stood, walking towards the door. "I'll call you tomorrow? Maybe we can go out somewhere, you and me."

"I'd like that." Emma smiled, stopping on the doorstep like she had that morning.

Again, they stared at each other for a while. After what felt like hours, Regina finally leant in and briefly pressed their lips together. "Goodnight, Miss Swan."

"Goodnight, Miss Mills…" The sheriff whispered breathlessly, her eyes still closed. She heard the door close and finally opened her eyes, grinning. "I'm gonna be dating Regina Mills."


End file.
